Review: An Audience With...Martin Allen

 

Since taking the hot seat at Notts County less than a year ago, Martin Allen has shown exactly the kind of passion and commitment that the Meadow Lane faithful might reasonably have expected from a man with the nickname ‘Mad Dog’. So, it made perfect sense for The Approach to make him the subject of their first ‘Audience with...’ event of 2012. And with BBC Five Live’s Darren Fletcher once again on hosting duties for an evening with one of Nottingham’s more colourful figures, footballing or otherwise, the air was pregnant with possibility…

 

Now, as a Forest fan, I’d be lying if I said that I went into the night without any hint of trepidation. However, I could soon rest assured: by and large, Martin Allen eschewed the ‘open goal’ of cheap points scored through throwaway humour with a partisan constituency and instead provided great entertainment for football fans from either side of the Trent.

 

For the uninitiated, the usual format for the night is two roughly equal halves split by an intermission: first, a conversational look back over a career, expertly led by Fletcher, followed by Q & A from the audience. Allen duly wasted no time in steering us through his early days as an under-achieving schoolboy in Reading, on through his career as a no-nonsense midfielder for the likes of Queens Park Rangers and West Ham, and into his managerial stints at clubs such as Barnet, Brentford, and of course Notts County. To the evident delight of the County fans, Allen spent the interval signing autographs, taking pictures, and shaking more hands than a politician on the election trail.

 

Given that he has a reputation for being quite a unique character in the world of football, it was inevitable that the audience would hear one or two choice anecdotes, not all of which can be divulged on a public forum such as this, if you catch my drift… But when it came to choosing highlights from his career, you can probably tell what type of player Allen was from the obvious relish in his voice as he recollected several of the bone-crunching tackles he made on players such as Graham Rix and Alan Hansen. In fact, it’s safe to say that his ability to, erm, make his mark on the opposition was one of his most prized attributes!

 

As the night wore on the tales became boozier and barmier: we heard of his run-in with Harry Redknapp over a pair of pink converse trainers and the time he swam across a river for a bet, while his impression of current County defender Sam Sodje brought the house down! From start to finish Allen held a tremendous rapport with his audience (aside from possibly one gentlemen in the fourth row whose gleaming head was referred to on more than one occasion), a personal openness and charm that gave the event a spontaneous feel.

 

Put simply, if you have any interest in Nottinghamshire football, or professional sport at large, then a night at The Approach for ‘An Audience with...’ is most definitely worth the entrance fee. And with the shy and retiring Robbie Savage next up in March, you can probably bet on another night of tough-tackling entertainment, no doubt with some Derby County and Leicester City banter thrown in, and maybe even a few tips on improving your tango!